Bajwa asks Sukhbir to quit over 'lack of trust' in cops

Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Partap Singh Bajwa on Monday said judicial proceedings before the Punjab and Haryana high court in the Tarn Taran police brutality case clearly revealed that the SAD-BJP government and the state police chief had little trust in their own police when it came to providing security and maintaining vigil.

Bajwa demanded immediate resignation of deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal for having no faith in the Punjab Police, adding that his (Sukhbir's) actions proved beyond doubt that he was incapable of performing his constitutional duty to protect people.

"News reports categorically assert that the Punjab government and the top brass of the Punjab Police do not depend on their own men for security purposes. Chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and his family, revenue minister Bikram Singh Majithia, food and civil supplies minister Adesh Partap Singh Kairon and even director general of police (DGP) Sumedh Singh Saini are among the ones provided with security cover by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF)," Bajwa added.

"By doing so, the who's who of the Punjab government and the state police have made it clear that their lives are more precious than those of its citizens; and its police force lacks capacity and capability to protect people," the PPCC president said.

Bajwa said it was now evident that the state government had kept the CRPF for protecting itself and the state police for wreaking vengeance on its political rivals.

Referring to the UN Human Rights Committee, the PPCC president said right to life was the supreme right of humans. Without it, all other rights are without meaning. It is the duty of the state to protect human life against unwarranted actions by public authorities as well as by private persons, he added.